European security summit clouded by Azerbaijan snub, but hopes high

Granada,  Spain—Europe’s quest to build a common geopolitical purpose brought four dozen of its leaders to Granada on Thursday, but its credibility suffered a blow when the Azerbaijani president stayed away.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also expected to skip the European Political Community summit, a loose grouping of European states inside and outside the EU and NATO.

But hopes that it would serve as a platform to calm tensions in the Caucasus, where Azerbaijani forces have captured Nagorno-Karabakh from ethnic Armenian rebels, were quickly dashed.

EU officials had hoped to host Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the event in what would have been the pair’s first face-to-face meeting since the offensive.

But Aliyev has been angered by what he sees as French and German bias towards the Armenian position, and has refused to travel to the meeting.

“Erdogan’s second absence in a row weakens the EPC as a way to deal with Ankara in a format other than the EU, to which Turkey’s candidacy is frozen,” said Sebastien Maillard of the Institute Jacques Delors.

“Without Turkey and Azerbaijan, the political community becomes more narrowly European and seems more anti-Putin, give or take a few leaders,” he said.

“Without a Karabakh meeting, the agenda could flip to the migration crisis,” he said, predicting that Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would seize the opportunity, having kickstarted the UK election campaign this week.

An Azerbaijani official said Aliyev would not attend because of “pro-Armenian statements by French officials” and because Paris has said it plans to deliver military equipment to Yerevan.

The official said Aliyev’s decision was also influenced by “accusations made yesterday by EU Council President Charles Michel”.

Michel, who has mediated several meetings between the foes in recent years, criticised Baku’s use of military force.

The official also cited an “anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere” and said Baku had wanted the meeting to take place in Turkey, its ally, which had welcomed the successful Karabakh offensive.

In Yerevan, Pashinyan told his parliament on Wednesday that he would still